Vedica Saxena is presently Delhi Vice President for WICCI (Women's Indian Chamber for Commerce and Industry) D&I.Currently in Delhi, working as a Project Director with Tagore International School where she initiates and leads social campaigns based on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) with senior students on Human Rights, for LGBT+ community rights, conducting gender sensitization workshops for other schools and colleges across country. She also mentors her students...

Aruna Desai, a founding member of Sweekar – The Rainbow Parents of India, discusses how she supported her son, Abhiskeh, who came out prior to the decriminalization of Section 377 in India. Shocked to discover how many Indian parents shun their LGBT children, she has made it her life’s mission to educate fellow parents about LGBT issues. Aruna Desai was a participant at the latest program of the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum – Advancing Legal and Social Equality in South Asia, held in Kathmandu,...

Gautam Yadav is an Indian gays rights activist. He has been on the board of several national and international organizations including UNAIDS Youth advisory forum (Asia Pacific), Youth Voices Count, Youth LEAD and more. Gautam was awarded with LGBT heroes award in Bangkok by APCOM in 2017. He has worked with India HIV/AIDS Alliance and now works with Humsafar Trust. At a tender age, he discovered his orientation and is a riveting story of how a boy literally from the slums of India is now...

"President Obama was starting an Advisory Council on Human Trafficking and wanted survivors on board. I was the only Indian American appointed to the council," says Mr D'Souza. "I started sharing my story and travelled far and wide to raise awareness about trafficking. Finally, my voice was heard when I got the call; the call from the White House. It has been over 16 year since Harold D'Souza arrived in the United States. One of the most vulnerable sections of society that is a an easy target...

Born in Mumbai, Zainab is a transgender person & is one of the petitioners in the National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India case on transgender rights. She holds an MBA in Human Resources & is the National Manager Health & Human Rights at UNDP country office in India. She has been exposed to insightful partnerships across multiple types of organizations like, the United Nations, external partner institutions (including governments), National Human Rights Institutions,...

June 7th 2021 is a historic day for the LGBTQIA+ community. In a significant judgment upholding the rights of members of LGBTQIA+ community, the Madras High Court has issued a slew of guidelines to ensure that. The Madras High Court has directed the Union and the State Government to take steps to prohibit attempts by physical and health professionals to medically ‘cure’ or change the sexual orientation of people belonging to the LGBTQIA + community. Any professional claiming to do so will...

Harish Iyer, is an Indian equal rights activist. Iyer engages in advocacy for a number of causes, including promoting the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, children, women, animals, and survivors of child sex abuse. Harish Iyer was also one of the most vocal proponents of the decriminalization of homosexuality in India. He was one of the people to move the Indian Supreme Court to decriminalize homosexuality. In June 2018, he filed an Impleadement Application in...

Maya Sharma is a feminist, lesbian and activist who has been passionately involved in the Indian women’s movement. She has co-written Women’s Labour Rights, a book on single women’s lives. She is currently working with Vikalp Women’s Group, a grassroots organization in Baroda, Gujarat, that works with tribal women and transgender people. She got involved in the movements quite late – in her forties! While doing research for her book Loving Women: Being Lesbian in Unprivileged India, she...

They call him Amma, ‘the mother of the gay community’, and unlike other ‘mothers’ in this country, he says, it’s a title he’s earned. He was the first Indian man to ever publicly declare his homosexuality. He is a living legend and the most respected journalist and an icon !!  Ashok Row Kavi is the first man to publicly come out as gay in India way back in 1984, and in the over 30 years since, his life has been a rollercoaster of controversy that eventually brought him to the doorstep of the...

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